UFO hunters were excited over the weekend after footage was posted online of a strange object moving over the moon.

The video shows a forked-tongue shaped object gently drifting along somewhere between Earth and the surface of the moon.

According to YouTube channel SecureTeam10, the video was shot by an observatory in Oman and was subsequently picked up by local media outlets.

Due to its size and apparent distance, it is thought that it could not be an airliner as comparative images show the difference in scale of an airplane travelling past the moon and the alleged spacecraft.

Speculation has been rife over what the mysterious object could be.

The narrator of the SecureTeam10 video said: “People are thinking it could be a meteor, or a spacecraft of some sort.

“We see what looks like a plume of smoke, or exhaust, or something coming off of the back of this thing and at the end of it, there is some sort of structure.

“Whatever this thing is, it is much closer to the moon than a commercial airliner.”

Some were quick to believe that the mysterious object could be of extra-terrestrial object, with one commenter saying: “It’s very ignorant and selfish to believe we are the only living beings in whole galaxy. Yet there are some humans who prefer to ignore that which we can’t explain.

“While others question and seek knowledge and true about what is out there. We can’t be the only ones in the galaxy. There is so much more than just us, there has to be something else beside us!”

However, others pointed out that it could simply be a cloud in the night sky.

One commenter said the object “is just a cloud, remember how clouds look like everything if you use your imagination”.